INFLUENCER MARKETING ON INSTAGRAM - A QUANTITATIVE STUDY ON THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE CREATION OF AN IDEAL SELF-IMAGE, REWARDS & APPROVALS AND PURCHASE INTENTIONS IN DEPENDENCE ON SIMILARITY AND FAMILIARITY

In concurrent times, social media forces companies to switch their advertising strategies from traditional marketing to online marketing, which can live up to the expectations of today’s society that is constantly confronted with media that are overfilled with different kinds of advertisements. Celebrity endorsements and especially influencer marketing on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are becoming more popular and are a must for successful marketing nowadays. Celebrities and influencers have the possibility to reach large numbers of consumer in short amounts of time and to influence the consumer’s opinions heavily. Different factors that determine the success of influencer marketing have been tested in various studies, including the research of Rifon and Choi (2012), Graeff (1996), Fortini-Campbell (1992), McGuire et al. (1985) and Kelman (1961). The aim of this research is to test the correlation between the desire of creating an ideal self-image, rewards and approvals that result from a purchase and purchase intentions in connection to the factors similarity and familiarity of an influencer. The research was carried out through an online questionnaire and resulted in a sample of 217 respondents who are all female, between the age of 18 and 33, live in Germany and use the social medium Instagram. The variables desire of creating an ideal selfimage, similarity, familiarity, rewards & approval and purchase intentions were measured with existing scales, while the variables rewards & approvals and purchase intentions were tested for two different brands. The results of the research showed that similarity and familiarity in an influencer both heavily influence the desire of creating an ideal self-image in the consumer. Also, the evoked desire of creating an ideal self-image has a strong positive influence on purchase intentions of the consumer. Expected rewards and approvals resulting from a purchase also have a positive influence on the purchase intentions of the consumer. Paying attention to the similarity and familiarity of an influencer and the rewards and approvals following a purchase is therefore of high importance for companies that work with influencer marketing